The present invention related generally to an inspection and testing system for manufactured rotary metal products such as automotive disc brake rotors, which are inspected from the standpoints of balance, dimensional gauging, and/or the detection of surface flaws, and specifically, to an improved mounting structure for the adjustable positioning a set of detectors in two-dimensional space adjacent the upper and lower surfaces of an automotive disk brake rotor undergoing testing.
The inspection of a machined rotary metal workpiece such as an automotive disc brake rotor commonly involves mounting the workpiece for rotational movement in an inspection and testing system having gaging probes or detectors secured adjacent the surfaces of the workpiece. Conventional testing systems employ a rotary shaft enclosed within a gage frame. The gage frame consists of a fixed lower portion into which the rotary shaft and associated drive components are mounted, and a movable upper portion or gaging probe carrier which is displaceable vertically to move the gaging probes or detectors out of the way to permit the placement of a workpiece undergoing testing on the rotary shaft.
Once a workpiece undergoing testing is secured to the rotary shaft, the upper portion of the gage frame or gaging probe carrier is lowered or closed to a predetermined position in which it engages a stop on the lower portion of the gage frame. The closing of the upper portion of the gage frame moves one or more of the gage probes or detectors mounted thereon into predetermined and fixed positions in proximity to the upper surfaces of the workpiece. Complimentary gage probes or detectors disposed in predetermined and fixed positions on the lower portion of the gage frame are held in proximity to the lower surfaces of the workpiece once the workpiece is secured on the rotary shaft.
During testing, as the workpiece is rotated about a central axis by the rotary shaft, the upper and lower surfaces are swept between the corresponding detectors mounted to the upper gaging probe carrier and lower gage frame portions, permitting measurements to be taken of various surface dimensions, characteristics, defects, and workpiece balance. An example of a conventional inspection and testing system for use with automotive disc brake rotors can be found in U.S. Pat. No. 6,067,857 to Cooper et al. and assigned to Balance technology, Inc. of Ann Arbor, Mich.
While such conventional inspection and testing systems permit the economically and rapid testing of large numbers of manufactured rotary metal products having uniform dimensions, such as from a factory assembly line, the fixed mounting of the detectors to the upper gage frame or gaging probe carrier and to the lower gage frame portions requires tedious and time-consuming changeover and setup for use with manufactured rotary metal products of different dimensions. Spacing and tolerance requirements to hold the detectors in predetermined positions relative to the surfaces undergoing inspection conventionally require that an operator remove and replace rigid detector mounting structures for each differently sized workpiece. For the testing of a small number of differently sized products such as automotive brake discs for different vehicles, the time required to change the inspection and testing system tooling to accommodate each size of product can exceed the time required to perform the actual surface testing.
Accordingly, there is a need in the industry for an improved testing and inspection system for manufactured rotary metal products which permits the placement of various surface detectors relative to a product undergoing testing to be altered and adjusted in two-dimensional space without the need to remove and replace components and/or tooling, thereby reducing the time required to alter the testing and inspection system to accommodate products of different dimensions.